Amendments on scrapping atoll councils approved with Abdul Raheem’s vote

The Parliament, on Tuesday, has approved the constitutional amendment backed by the government, which seeks to scrap atoll councils ahead of the local council elections scheduled for next year, with the vote of Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla.

Before asking for the vote, Abdul Raheem announced that he can participate in the vote.

The amendments proposed by ruling PNC’s deputy parliamentary leader and Baarah MP Shujau to the constitution, the Local Council Election Act, and the Decentralization Act, was passed by the votes of 75 lawmakers. 12 lawmakers – all representing main opposition MDP – voted against passing the amendments.

The amendments will see the term ‘Atoll Council’ removed from both laws, effectively dissolving these councils and eliminating elections for Atoll Council members.

Under the updated Decentralization Act, island councils would report directly to the Local Government Authority (LGA) rather than to Atoll Councils. The number of councillors per island council would be reduced to three, except in constituencies with populations over 2,000, where five councillors would be elected.

The changes would also impact Women’s Development Committees (WDCs), with membership numbers adjusted to match the number of elected councillors. Committee chairpersons would be directly elected by residents of their respective islands or cities.

The government had first announced its plan to abolish Atoll Councils on August 19 of last year. President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has described the Atoll Council positions as redundant and pledged to remove them.

Local Government Minister Adam Shareef Umar echoed this stance in a September interview on PSM’s Raajje Miadhu program, calling Atoll Councils an unnecessary layer in the decentralisation system.

In addition to dissolving Atoll Councils, the President has also proposed reducing the size of island councils according to population thresholds.